'Djordje's On Fire' | An all-access look into Mihailovic's Olympic experience in Paris 

Underneath the lights of Stade Vélodrome, over 48,000 fans roared as the U.S. and France stepped onto the pitch for the first group-stage match of men’s soccer competition of the 2024 Olympic Games.

“Seeing all those people, even hearing people singing the French national anthem, that gives you goosebumps,” said Colorado Rapids midfielder and Olympic athlete Djordje Mihailovic. “It's those moments that make you realize why you love the sport.”

Mihailovic was the first active Rapids player to qualify and play in the Olympic Games in over two decades. His Olympic journey was highlighted by four starts, two goals, one assist and the experience of a lifetime, all within a whirlwind month.

The U.S. men’s team didn’t qualify for the Olympics in either of the years Mihailovic would have been eligible, 2016 in Rio or 2020 in Tokyo. His chance at a medal would come once he was technically out of the qualifying age pool, as the men’s teams competing in the tournament are all U-23 sides, not senior national teams, to avoid scheduling conflicts between FIFA, the Olympics and players’ own clubs.

Mihailovic entered the Games as one of the team’s three allotted over-age players, alongside two MLS centerbacks: Nashville SC’s Walker Zimmerman and FC Cincinnati’s Miles Robinson.

Integrating with the younger team was smoother than anticipated, despite Mihailovic’s nerves of folding into a set of almost entirely new faces. The squad trained for a week and a half in Bordeaux, mostly tactics training, and played two closed-door scrimmages with other Olympic sides. The positive results out of those scrimmages and his adaptation to the lower-intensity trainings combined to a more confident approach to the team’s opener against host country France.

“I was quickly able to understand my teammates and get a good feeling going into the first game against France,” said Mihailovic. “That is very weird, playing with a lot of new faces for the first time in a major competition. Yeah, I can't hide from that.”

July 24 | USA vs France

He entered the match with France focused, as his pregame ritual entails a “do not disturb” approach. He deleted social media, only keeping Instagram as he could tailor the notifications and messages to his specifications, and wouldn’t field any texts or calls outside his family for the entire day leading up to the match. He continued this ritual throughout the Games.

The game was set in a deadlock for the first hour of play despite promising chances from both sides, including one from Mihailovic, a long-range shot that pinged off the crossbar in the 59th minute. It would be French captain Alexandre Lacazette that broke through in the 61st , and the hosts finished off the match 3-0 to open the two sides’ Group A experience.

“For 60 minutes, we were very good,” Mihailovic recalled. “We frustrated them. We defended well. We showed that we belong here, and then they scored right after I hit the crossbar...we score one of those chances and the game turns into something completely different.

Every team we're going to face can punish us as soon as we let our shield down. That's exactly what happened. And we learned from that moment. In this kind of tournament, games come quick, and you have to move on as fast as you can.”

Despite the loss to open their Olympic campaign, the team had the chance to celebrate donning the Stars and Stripes through the Opening Ceremony in Paris—kind of.

As the group-stage games were being held throughout France, not Paris itself, both the men’s and women’s teams watched their fellow American athletes “open” the Games from their hotels in Marseilles. Where disappointment might have been easy to feel for not directly participating in the event, the team made an event of it themselves, still getting dressed in the custom Ralph Lauren uniforms that LeBron James, Simone Biles, and the rest of the United States’ athletes were sporting on their way down the Seine.

The group stage structure also meant that the team would not be staying in the Olympic Village, instead, moving from hotel to hotel where their training and games would take them. First the historic wine country of Bordeaux, then the port city of Marseilles, and finally the metropolis of Saint-Étienne.

The closed environment of a hotel away from the Olympic Village was one Mihailovic was grateful for, both during the competitions and in retrospect. Gathering 24 athletes with a common goal under one roof provided the discipline and camaraderie that the team needed in their packed schedule of four games in 10 days. A mandatory golf day in Bordeaux with the whole team, games of Mafia organized by Zimmerman in the hotel and the separate Opening Ceremony built the foundation of a healthy and tightknit team.

July 27 | USA vs New Zealand

Mihailovic started the next game against New Zealand, fitting into head coach Marko Mitrovic’s midfield once more. From the first whistle, the game was nothing like the previous against France. The field was more open, there were more chances for the U.S. to be dangerous in the attack—eventually leading to their first chance at goal in the ninth minute.

Nathan Harriel took a foot high up on the shin while trying to dribble out of trouble in the New Zealand box, granting his side the early opportunity to lead.

It wouldn't be a run-of-play breakaway goal or a dynamic header off a corner that broke the Olympic scoring drought for the Stars & Stripes, but a humble, yet nerve-wracking, penalty kick taken by none other than Mihailovic himself.

The uniqueness of the penalty kick is an underappreciated one, as there’s no other two-player interaction of its kind in the game of soccer. Opponents staring down each other and the ball, placed twelve yards away from the goal, in a do-or-die situation. “Goals change games”: it’s a phrase players and coaches are all too rehearsed at and fans are all too used to hearing—but it rings true. This ninth-minute chance from the spot was one that was going to change not only the game but also the trajectory of Mihailovic’s Olympic journey and put a stamp on the midfielder’s legacy within U.S. Soccer.

“I'll be honest, this was the first PK in my career that I was so nervous,” he reflected after the game. “I was standing there before taking the kick, thinking so many things. It might not seem like it, maybe my face didn't show it, but that's the truth.”

Former Rapids and Olympic goalkeeper Tim Howard, who called all of the U.S.’s games for NBC, saw the moment differently from his screen.

“He’s locked in, he’s cool in this moment. You see that focus—he knows the ball’s gonna hit the back of the net.”

You certainly wouldn’t know it from the pace and placement of the shot that sailed into the lower right corner of the net, past New Zealand goalkeeper Alex Paulsen. After 16 years, the U.S. had notched an Olympic goal, and by the foot of an over-age player for the first time in history.

His following celebration was like the one Rapids fans have become accustomed to, a short skip and a fist thrown in the air before being engulfed by teammates’ congratulations and embraces—not at all like his hypothetical one if his chance off the crossbar against France had found the back of the net: “I probably would have taken all my clothes off. Something cool.”

While that goal’s celebration was more muted, the postgame festivities took on a revelrous tone as the bus of athletes chanted Mihailovic’s name, inserting it into the chant created and popularized by Wigan fans for their striker Will Griggs:

“Djordje’s on fire, your defense is terrified! Djordje’s on fire, your defense is terrified!”

The atmosphere was one that could be summed up with, in his words: “Vibes are high...absolutely in the sky.”

Mihailovic went into the Games with the intention to get the Olympic rings tattooed on himself once he returned to Denver, somewhere inconspicuous (“Maybe my shin where it won’t show too much if I'm playing or wearing nice clothes”).

After the game against France, he told his father his plans, but was told it doesn’t matter that you’re just in the Olympics, you have to score in the Olympics to make it count. After he scored against New Zealand, he revisited with his dad, how about now? No, no, he said, that was a penalty—it doesn’t really count, it needs to be in the run of play.

It turns out Olympic athletes’ parents are just like ours: always pushing their kids to reach the next level.

July 30 | USA vs Guinea

The final group-stage game against Guinea held more consequence for Mihailovic and the U.S., but the thought of a shot at a medal, making it out of the group, achieving yet another milestone in the country’s Olympic history wasn’t really on the midfielder’s mind, even as the rest of the squad was high-energy in the locker room, pumping each other up in anticipation of making it into the Knockout Stage. He was calm, ready as ever to deliver.

The victory over New Zealand prepared them well, he said, especially in the fact that they got on the board first and quickly. That was the game plan heading into Guinea—score first, settle the nerves and set the tone for the rest of the game.

Mihailovic and his side didn’t have to wait much longer for that first chance at a goal, as teammate Griffin Yow was fouled about three yards outside of the box, just to the left of the center, in the 12th minute. He stepped up to the ball alongside Jon Tolkin, a lefty, and the New York Red Bulls striker gave his blessing to Mihailovic to take the shot.

Despite the joys of making history and finding the back of the net for his country, the common feeling Mihailovic identifies when he recounts his accomplishments in the games is disbelief. Disbelief for being awarded the assist on Zimmerman’s goal against Guinea after it pinballed seemingly off every player present in the box. For finishing the free kick on frame when he skied every practice shot during training in the days leading up, trying to finish “like Ronaldo.” For converting the penalty kick against New Zealand when he didn’t make a single one in practice the day before.

“I knew that I needed to use a bit more technique than power,” he said after the game. “It was actually a really soft kick. I knew that I just had to get over the wall to give myself a chance.”

Over the wall was an understatement. His right-footed curling shot found the tiniest sliver of space in the top-left corner, past the outstretched hands of Guinea ‘keeper Soumaïla Sylla for his second Olympic goal.

This goal might not have been in the run of play, but did it count for more with his dad?

“No. I probably need to score a bicycle kick for my dad to say yeah.”

August 1 | USA vs Morocco

In what would be the U.S.’s final game, the feeling was different from the start. Underlying pressure to win and prove the doubters wrong, that the Americans could advance further than they had in over two decades combined with a restless and hostile home crowd, as Moroccans make up for the second-highest immigrant population in France.

Even the leadup into the match was less than ideal, as the train that was supposed to take Mihailovic into Paris was cancelled due to a fallen tree on the tracks. What would have been a two-hour train ride from Lyon turned into a six-hour bus ride into the heart of France. His plans to watch some of the other sports’ events were foiled, missing the opportunity to watch Katie Ledecky win gold in the 1500-meter freestyle that night with teammates Zimmerman, Duncan McGuire, Jack McGlynn and Tolkin.

For Mihailovic, the Morocco match was one more game to win before the chance to medal, but he felt confident, the nerves only settling in once they took to the pitch and faced the jeers and boos of the Morocco fanbase during warmups.

Morocco’s fanbase was backed up by their team’s dominant play over the next 90 minutes. Although the scoreline held at 1-0 at the break, the worst was to come as the U.S. began to unravel toward the end of the match, conceding two goals in the final 10 minutes to solidify their exit from the tournament without a chance at a medal.

“With the quality on the field plus the energy from the crowd, 99% Moroccan fans, it was a tougher game than ours against France in my opinion,” Mihailovic said.

“We had a very good opportunity to tie the game 1-1 with Miles’ [Robinson] chance...it’s pretty basic to say goals win games, but it’s the truth. You tie it and who knows—the fans get antsy. You never know what can happen. We didn't score, didn’t really get into a flow with the ball, but that’s what the really good teams are going to do to you.”

After being ousted from the tournament, the rest of Mihailovic’s time in Paris was spent with family and teammates, first walking around the streets of the iconic city and then taking in the USA versus Germany women’s beach volleyball match in front of a sparkling Eiffel Tower before wrapping the night up and heading home to Denver in the morning.

The journey was over. Despite the doubters and despite the end to the historic run, one central thought came through when he looked back on the recent weeks of his career.

“I’m in the Olympics. Anybody could say anything they want about me, but I’m in the Olympics.”